A founder arrest, a look at BloombergGPT, and if you want an A in this class, you'd better go viral

So sad: Bob Lee, the 43-year-old former CTO of Square (now Block), who joined the cryptocurrency outfit MobileCoin as chief product officer in late 2021, was stabbed to death in San Francisco early this morning, according to friends, including Jack Dorsey. Details are still emerging. According to Miami-based entrepreneur Lucy Guo, who cofounded Scale AI with Alexandr Wang in 2016, Lee had recently moved his family and father to Miami. The San Francisco Chronicle has more here. 

Twitter is being sued by contract workers who argue they were a “contingent workforce” with the same duties as employees and shouldn’t have been laid off without notice when Elon Musk took over the company. The class-action complaint filed today in San Francisco federal court is the latest legal fallout from Musk's decision in November to eliminate more than half of Twitter’s head count just after he acquired the company for $44 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

Charlie Javice, the founder of the student loan assistance company Frank, was arrested today and charged with criminal fraud. The SEC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging the 31-year-old Javice, whose company was acquired by JPMorgan in 2021 for $175 million, deceived JPMorgan by claiming Frank had valuable data on 4.25 million students when the reality was less than one-tenth of that. Trial lawyer Alex Spiro, who has represented Elon Musk, Jay Z, and Megan thee Stallion, tells CNBC that “Charlie denies the allegations." More here.

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Covariant, a six-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based outfit that makes AI-powered warehouse robots, has raised $75 million in extended Series C financing that brings the outfit's total funding to $222 million. Earlier investors Radical Ventures and Index Ventures led the round, joined by Gates Frontier Holdings, AIX Ventures and Northgate Capital and earlier backers Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Amplify Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

ElevenLabs, a London-based startup that was founded by Google and Palantir alumni and uses AI to transfer text into realistic spoken word, is reportedly raising $18 million in funding co-led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Daniel Gross, an early investor in the likes of Uber, Coinbase, and Figma. The outfit had raised a $2 million pre-seed round two months ago. Business Insider has the story here.

Everstream Analytics, an 11-year-old company based in San Marcos, Ca., that provides predictive insights for physical supply chains, raised a $50 million Series B round co-led by Morgan Stanley Investment Management and StepStone Group and including previous investor Columbia Capital. The company has raised a total of $79 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Finanzguru, a five-year-old Frankfurt startup whose multi-banking app also offers advice on insurance and financial products, raised a $14.2 million round co-led by SCOR Ventures and PayPal Ventures, with Deutsche Bank, Coparion, VR Ventures, Hannover Digital Investments, and Venture Stars also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $30.1 million. PYMNTS.com has more here.

HeatTransformers, a five-year-old Dutch startup that installs heat pumps for European consumers, raised a $16.3 million Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners, with Fair Capital Partners and InnovationQuarter also taking part. Tech.eu has more here.

Mercy BioAnalytics, a five-year-old startup based in Natick, Ma., that is developing a test to detect cancer early by looking for tiny particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the blood, raised a $41 million Series A round led by Novalis LifeSciences, with additional participation from Sozo Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, iSelect Fund, American Cancer Society BrightEdge, and Broadway Angels. The company has raised a total of $68.3 million. Precision Oncology News has more here.

Spendflo, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies understand the total cost of their SaaS investments, raised an $11 million Series A round. Prosus Ventures and Accel Partners were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $15.4 million. PYMNTS.com has more here.

Strivacity, a four-year-old, Herndon, Va.-based startup that helps companies secure business-to-business and business-to-consumer sign-in experiences, has raised $20 million in Series A-2 funding led by SignalFire, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia, and Tenable co-founder Jack Huffard. The fresh cash brings Strivacity’s total raised to $28 million; TechCrunch has more here.

Tado, a 12-year-old Munich company that says it has sold over three million smart thermostats, added $13.1 million to a $47 million round it raised in February. S2G Ventures led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $204.3 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Votiro, a 13-year-old Austin company that disarms weaponized files delivered via email, collaborative platforms, web downloads, or file sharing services, raised an $11.5 million Series A round. Harvest Lane Asset Management was the lead investor. The company has raised a total of $25.5 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Vytelle, an eight-year-old startup based in Lenexa, Ks., that develops technology to assist in the breeding of cattle, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Forage Capital Partners, with additional investment from Mountain Group Partners as well as previous investors Grosvenor Food & Ag Tech, Open Prairie, Fulcrum Global Capital, Serra Ventures, and KC Rise. The company has raised a total of $33.2 million. More here.

X Shore, a 27-year-old Stockholm company that makes electric boats, raised a $27.4 million. SEB Investment Management was the deal lead. Tech.eu has more here.

Acre, a six-year-old London startup that says it uses blockchain technology to place detailed consumer and property data at the center of the mortgage application process, raised an $8.1 million round from The McPike Global Family Office, with Aviva and Sesame Bankhall Group also joining in. The company has raised a total of $14.6 million. Silicon Canals has more here.

Adludio, an eight-year-old London startup that claims it uses AI to design and deliver mobile ad campaigns, raised a $2.5 million round from previous investor Mercia. The company has raised a total of $24.2 million. VentureBeat has more here.

CarmaCare, a two-year-old, Chicago-based startup focused on making it easier for car owners to buy extended warranties, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Inspired Capital, alongside Twelve Below, Revelry and 81 Collection. TechCrunch has more here.

Ecosapiens, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that allows users to purchase carbon credits through its nature-themed NFTs to offset the environmental impact of blockchain technology, raised a $3.5 million seed round. Collab+Currency was the deal lead, with gmoney also chipping in. CoinDesk has more here.

Eli, a four-year-old Montréal startup that provides real-time insights into hormone levels through saliva testing, raised a $3.7 million seed round led by Muse Capital, with RH Capital and Cake Ventures also contributing. The company has raised a total of $6.7 million. Forbes has more here.

Franklin, a crypto startup that offers tools to automate payroll expenses and tax filings for a selection of cryptocurrencies, raised a $2.9 million seed round co-led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and CMT Digital, with Arca, Sfermion, Portage Ventures, and Synergis Capital also participating. CoinDesk has more here.

Sepura, a nearly five-year-old, Victoria, British Columbia-based startup that recently introduced an eponymous home appliance that sits under a sink in place of a garbage disposal, has raised $3.7 million in seed funding led by sink-maker Blanco. TechCrunch has more here.

Swehl, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup that offers group support as well as latch kits and nipple support products to help parents throughout their postpartum experience, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed round from Cleo Capital and others. Femtech Insider has more here.

Trustle, a four-year-old startup based in Walnut Creek, Ca., that is building technology to help businesses clean up permissions, enable multi-cloud privileged access, and speed up compliance, raised a $6 million round led by Glasswing Ventures, with FUSE, Correlation Ventures, and Capital Technology Ventures also investing. SecurityWeek has more here.

Zyod, an Indian startup founded this year that claims it can develop pieces for fashion brands in record time, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture India Partners and including FJ Labs and Panthera Peak Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

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Gutter Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that says it's focused on affordability, economic mobility, and climate change, has closed its debut fund with $25 million in capital commitments. Dan Teran, who founded the office management platform Managed by Q (it sold to WeWork during the Adam Neumann era) and James Gettinger, a computer scientist and former professional gambler, co-founded the firm. Limited partners in the effort include Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, Hunter Walk and Satya Patel of Homebrew, and Eileen Murray, former Co-CEO of Bridgewater Group. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Osage University Partners, a 14-year-old, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based venture capital fund that invests exclusively in startups that are commercializing university research, has garnered $195 million in capital commitments for its fourth fund, shows an SEC filing that states the outfit has been raising the fund (and presumably investing it) since 2021. More here.

Smash Capital, a late-stage investment firm co-founded by Disney veterans including Kevin Mayer, is seeking to raise as much as $500 million in fresh capital, according to The Information. If you aren't familiar with the firm, we profiled it in 2021.

Staircase Ventures, a months-old, Toronto-based venture firm run by Janet Bannister -- a former managing partner at Real Ventures in Toronto -- has closed on $22 million in capital commitments for its debut fund. Bannister is reportedly aiming to close the fund with $30 million. BetaKit has more here.

The 23-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based tech-focused private equity firm Accel-KKR says it has $5.3 billion in new capital commitments across two new funds: its Capital Partners VII LP and Emerging Buyout Partners II LP funds. The funds bring the firm's assets under management to $19 billion. Crunchbase has more here.

Ensemble, a two-year-old, Austin-based venture firm whose founders include a former data advisor at Draper Associates, a former venture LP at UTIMCO, and a former data scientist at IBM, has closed its debut fund with $100 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

French skincare giant L’Oréal just acquired Aesop, the cosmetics company with a cult following, in a $2.53 billion deal. Aesop, which was founded in Melbourne, Australia, became a part of Brazil's Natura & Co. back in 2012 and saw exponential growth in a 10-year period. It went from just 52 stores and counters to 395. Gross sales increased from $28 million to $537 million. Last year, Aesop opened its first physical stores in China as well as grew its line of fragrances to become Natura’s most profitable business. Fast Company has more here.

Calls to pause the development of artificial intelligence will not “solve the challenges” ahead, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tells Reuters in his first public comments since an open letter sparked a debate about the future of the technology.

With Virgin Orbit now under bankruptcy protection, departing COO Tony Gingiss had some choice words for the company’s leadership.

RIP, Klaus Teuber, the designer responsible for creating Catan, who just passed away at the age of 70.

Surprise. Insiders at collapsed Signature Bank sold more than $100 million of shares in the years after the bank pivoted to attract cryptocurrency companies, says the WSJ, adding that sales over the past three years by the bank’s chairman, its former CEO and his successor accounted for about half of the amount sold.

Prices for lithium are down more than 30% this year, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. But the pullback could be short-lived. More here.

A new browser extension reveals which users paid for their verification with Twitter Blue and who is "actually verified."

A look at BloombergGPT,  a computer that aims to “know” everything the entire company knows.

Tinder is pushing forward with a $500-per-month subscription offering, tentatively called “Tinder Vault.”

Traffic altercation.

The 10 happiest countries in the world, 2023 edition.

Want an A in this class? You better go viral.

A 300-year-old, three-bedroom hits the market.

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